Hill eyes video game use by shooter

As scrutiny of the Newtown, Conn., massacre continued on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers pointed fingers at another culprit in addition to the nation’s gun laws: Violent video games.

Reports that school shooter Adam Lanza played such video games as "Call of Duty" and "Starcraft" led some members of Congress to call for more scrutiny of an entertainment culture they say glorifies violence, as one prominent gamer called for a national day of “ceasefire” for those who play online shooting games.

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“I think we need to do everything possible we can to prevent such tragedies, including addressing the culture of violence that may be spawned by video games,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told POLITICO Tuesday.

From the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), meanwhile, called for a national commission on violence that looks not only at gun laws but the entertainment industry to examine the underlying reasons behind shootings such as those in Newtown.

“Everything has to be on the table, including our gun laws, but a commission also needs to examine the effect the entertainment industry has on our culture,” Lieberman said.

“Very often, these young men have had an almost hypnotic involvement in some form of violence in our entertainment culture, particularly violent video games, and then they obtain guns and become not just troubled young men but mass murderers,” he added.

The lawmakers were several members of Congress seeking answers in addition to gun control for the rash of mass killings — from Columbine to Aurora to Newtown. On Friday, Lanza took the lives of 26 people — 20 small children and six adults — at an elementary school in Newtown, before killing himself as first responders closed in.

The Entertainment Software Association did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

But some say that lawmakers blaming entertainment is a cop-out.

"Blaming video games or any other kind of violent media for causing violence in the real world is a dodge from policy solutions," Alyssa Rosenberg wrote for Think Progress.

Meanwhile, GamerFitNation founder Antwand Pearman issued a national call for a one-day ceasefire among players of online shooting games. According to reports on gaming sites, Pearman wants gamers to "just put your controller down and show your love" on Friday for a “day of ceasefire for online shooters.”

Lawmakers have repeatedly sought to temper violence in media after such tragedies. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said in a statement that “violent images have a negative impact on our children’s well-being. … While we don’t know if such images impacted the killer in Newtown, the issue of violent content is serious and must be addressed.”

Even David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s political consultant, spoke up about the matter.

“[S]houldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?” Axelrod tweeted on Sunday, apparently disturbed by an “ad for shoot ‘em up video game.”

While the gruesome Newtown homicide has sparked a debate on violence in video games, it’s far from clear that it will result in any new laws or regulations.

Back in 2011, the Supreme Court struck down a California state law banning the sale of violent video games to minors, citing the First Amendment’s free speech protections.

The high court “threw some cold water on the idea of regulating violent video games,” Dan Isett, public policy director for the Parents Television Council, said about the decision.

“Video games are deeply concerning to parents and families around the country,” Isett said. Ensuring that minors don’t have access to the offensive content that “the industry itself” agrees is inappropriate for them “would be a major step in the right direction.”

But Isett isn’t holding his breath.

“ESA talks about how much retailers have gotten better at that,” Isett said. “But outside of Best Buy and Game Stop, the rest of the industry isn’t good at preventing access to minors of this content.”

Brooks Boliek contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:37 p.m. on December 18, 2012.